Little Country Chicken, an Easy Quilt Pattern

By Janet Wickell

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About the Little Chicken Quilt

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Miniature Chicken Quilt Pattern - Janet Wickell

A Little Chick with Heart, Miniature Quilt Pattern. Photo Credit: Janet Wickell

This little chicken wears her heart as a badge... a sweet girl who roams the gardens with her friends. Use my easy quilt pattern to create a little chicken quilt of your own, and customize the colors to suit your needs.

The quilt is a small, finishing at about 24" square, and the appliqué chicken quilt block at its center finishes at 14" x 14". Although the quilt is not truly a miniature -- because the chicken block is large -- its first border is made up of miniature square in a square blocks, all quick pieced for easy assembly.

Use any technique you like, hand or machine, to appliqué the patches to the background square. A few appliqué choices include:

Fabric Requirements

Appliqué

For the chicken's body: a piece of fabric that measures about 13" x 13"

For the chicken's comb: red fabric (or another color) that's about 4" x 5"

For the heart: red fabric (or another color) that measures about 4" x 5" (or cut your own heart by folding fabric in half -- elementary school style)

Background square: cut a square about 15-1/2" x 15-1/2" (increase slightly for more squaring up wiggle room)

For Patchwork

Use a variety of prints if you prefer to make a scrap quilt, but try to keep contrast fairly consistent for patches used in similar positions. Read the pattern before cutting fabric.

Square in a Square Blocks (make 32 that finish at 2" square)

(32) 2-1/2" x 2-1/2" squares from red print (block centers)
(68) 1-1/2" x 1-1/2" squares from green print (form outer edges of border)

(60) 1-1/2" x 1-1/2" squares from gold print (form inner edges of border)

The patchwork blocks can be constructed in a couple of different ways -- one uses larger triangles sewn to sides of squares. The quick piecing method we'll use makes it easy to handle small patches of fabric with ease, and is more suitable for scrap quilts.

Other Materials

Outer border: 1/3 yard

Backing: a single or pieced panel about 30" square (a bit larger if you plan to do a lot of intricate quilting)

Batting: low loft batting to match size of backing

Continuous binding strips: about 120 running inches of doublefold binding to finish at 1/4" wide (quilt binding strip instructions)

Fabric for a hanging sleeve if desired.

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How to Sew an Appliqué Chicken Quilt Block

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Miniature chicken quilt block shown with outline of body to help you assemble the templates for cutting. Photo Credit: © Janet Wickell

To Make the Chicken Quilt Block Download the templates:

There are only three pieces of fabric to cut, but the chicken's body is too large to print on an 8-1/2" x 11" pieces of paper.

Print each of the three template pages at 100% (do not allow printer to scale the images up or down).
The "A" and "B" designations on the chicken body templates are not patch numbers -- they indicate where to connect the templates to create an entire body (right illustration). Connect those lines to create a single template.

Create templates from the two remaining pieces.
If you're making one block for the small quilt shown, you should be fine with the printer paper. If making more, transferring the shapes to a rigid file folder, card stock or template material would be best.

Remember that applique shapes do not include seam allowances. When printed, the templates are right-side-up -- take that into consideration when cutting patches for the appliqué method you've chosen.

Fold the background square in half crosswise, lengthwise and along both diagonals to determine its center point and to create lines that will help position the patches. This step is not as important for a block with just a few pieces, like our chicken, but may help you center the shapes more accurately.
Remaining steps may vary depending on the appliqué method you use, but for most the chicken's body should be appliquéd to the background first, followed by the heart and the comb.
When applique is complete, press the block lightly. Trim the block to measure 14-1/2" x 14-1/2".

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Finish Sewing the Little Country Chicken Quilt

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Draw a line from one corner to the opposite corner on the reverse side of each 1-1/2" square (128 - all colors).
Sew a square to each corner of each 2-1/2" square, using the quick pieced Snowball method. Squares will create larger triangles than used for Snowballs, but the method is exactly the same.

I suggest you sew squares to opposite corners first, then trim fabric 1/4" (or a bit less) beyond the seam, flip remaining triangle right side up and press.

Sew squares to remaining opposite sides to complete each block.

A few things to keep in mind:

If you are using three fabrics, like the quilt shown, construct 28 square in a square blocks with like-triangles on the same two sides of the block (top left illustration) and four blocks with the fabric used on outer quilt edges taking up three triangle spots (top right illustration).
If you're sewing scrappy, and not paying attention to contrast, your squares will be more random.
If you haven't used the Snowball method, read the instructions carefully and make a few test blocks from fabric scraps before beginning. Seams are sewn directly on the marked line, not offset as we do when making quick pieced half square triangle units.
Chain piece to speed up assembly.

Finish the Quilt Top

Set aside the square in a square blocks with three like-sides; they will be used in the block corners.
Divide the remaining small blocks into four groups of seven. Sew each group together, like-colored triangles flowing along one edge. Press seam allowances any direction.

Sew a 7-block strip to opposite sides of the appliqué quilt block, taking care that fabric designated for the inner position touches the large block. Press seam allowances towards the chicken block.
Place the two remaining strips along the free sides of the block as a visual. Sew a corner square in a square block to each end of the remaining strips, taking care to place the "inner" triangle to flow with others in the strip.
Sew the strips to remaining sides of the quilt, matching edges and butting seams carefully where they connect with the previous border.
Cut 3-1/2" wide pieces of fabric to construct the outer border. Adding this border can help square up the quilt, so measure carefully to determine border lengths. Beginners -- never determine border length by measuring along the outer edges of a quilt.
Press new seam allowances towards the outer border.
Mark for quilting if necessary. Sandwich with batting and backing. Quilt by hand or machine. Trim away excess batting and backing, squaring up corners carefully if needed.
Bind the quilt with doublefold binding that finishes at 1/4" in width. A hanging sleeve can be added either during the binding process, or after the quilt is complete.